The present invention relates to a hard disk drive picking device and method, for use in a library of hard disk drives.
Large scale computing devices often employ a library of removable computer memory media to provide for increased storage capability and the sharing of media by multiple hosts. In such a library, the media are shelved in storage bins for retrieval by a robotic picking apparatus or xe2x80x9cpicker.xe2x80x9d Such a picker for optical disk media is described in Dimitri et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,377,121, which is herein incorporated by reference in its entirety. Tape cassettes are another common library media. The library has at least one drive receptacle coupled to one or more host computers that may read or write to the media.
When a host requests a particular medium in the library, the picker is typically commanded to travel to the storage bin in the library where the medium is shelved, grip the medium, remove the medium from the storage bin, travel to a destination drive having input/output (xe2x80x9cI/Oxe2x80x9d) connections with the host, insert the medium into the drive, and power the drive.
A problem with these prior art libraries is that optical media provides relatively slow reading and writing, while tape media provides relatively slow random access.
In recognition of these problems, the concept of a library of hard disk drives was developed, which is the subject of the assignee""s companion application entitled LIBRARY OF HARD DISK DRIVES WITH TRANSPARENT EMULATING INTERFACE, executed on Apr. 9, 2001 by inventors Kamal Dimitri, Robert G. Emberty, Craig Klein, and Daniel J. Winarski, filed on Apr. 26, 2001, and incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. According to the concept, hard disk drives are stored in associated storage locations in the library. The robotic picker is adapted to couple and decouple a selected disk drive from a destination receptacle that is coupled to the one or more host computers requesting data.
The hard disk drive library provides the advantage of relative speed as compared to libraries employing optical or tape media. Entire hard disk drives, rather than hard disk media, are exchanged in the library to remain within the close mechanical tolerances required for efficient use of this memory element.
In a basic form of the concept, the destination receptacle provides power connections to the disk drive and I/O connections to the host computers, and the robotic picker retrieves the selected disk drive from its storage location, carries the disk drive to and inserts the disk drive into the destination receptacle. The disk drive is then powered and spins up to its operating speed. Finally, when this operating speed is reached, the data on the disk drive may be accessed by the computer.
As may be readily appreciated, all of this movement takes time, and efforts are constantly being made to decrease the time required to access memory elements in the library.
Accordingly, there is a need for hard disk drive picker device and method that provides for decreasing the time required for accessing a selected hard disk drive in a library of hard disk drives.
Disclosed is a hard disk drive picking device and method according to the present invention for transferring a disk drive from one of a plurality of storage bins in a library to a destination wherein the disk drive may be electrically interconnected to a computer. A device according to the invention includes a gripping element for gripping the disk drive, a translating mechanism for translating the disk drive from the storage bin to the destination, and a backplane adapted to provide power or I/O interconnections between the disk drive and the destination during transfer of the disk drive.
Therefore, it is a principal object of the present invention to provide a novel and improved hard disk drive picking device and method.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a hard disk drive picking device and method that provides for decreasing the time required for accessing a selected hard disk drive in a library of hard disk drives.